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NEW YORK (AP) — Samsung seemed to be play it protected —at slightest with a battery — as it denounced a initial vital smartphone given a annoying remember of a fire-prone Note 7.

The Galaxy S8 will come in dual sizes, both bigger than allied models from final year. To maximize arrangement space, there’s no some-more earthy home button. The S8 also sports a voice partner dictated to opposition Siri and Google Assistant.

But battery ability isn’t increasing, notwithstanding a incomparable sizes, definition some-more respirating room for a battery. Samsung had pushed a engineering pouch with a Note 7 battery, that contributed to extemporaneous combustions. That remember cost Samsung during slightest $5.3 billion. Though many business sojourn loyal, any serve misstep could infer fatal.

The phone, announced Wednesday in New York, will come out Apr 21. The standard-size S8 will cost about $750 and a incomparable S8 Plus about $850 — both about $100 some-more than allied iPhones and opposition Android phones.

“That’s a large gamble that a phones will clear a aloft price, since it could have used these new phones as a approach to expostulate aloft sales after a integrate of years of stagnation,” pronounced Jan Dawson, an researcher with Jackdaw Research.

ABOUT THAT BATTERY …

Samsung has blamed a Note 7 fires on churned pattern and production defects in a batteries. Inspectors resolved some of a batteries were too tiny for their capacity, putting vigour on a inner structure.

The association says phones will now go by churned inspections, including X-rays and highlight tests during impassioned temperatures. And Samsung no longer is perplexing to fist a lot of battery energy in a tiny space. The S8 Plus model, for instance, has 3 percent reduction battery energy than a Galaxy S7 Edge, though a phone itself is 12 percent larger.

BIGGER, TALLER SCREENS

The S8 phone’s arrangement measures 5.8 inches diagonally, compared with 5.1 inches on a S7. The S8 Plus will be 6.2 inches, compared with S7 Edge’s 5.5 inches and a Note 7’s 5.7 inches. Samsung is removing absolved of a “Edge” eminence and bringing winding sides to all S8 phones.

Samsung has also done it easier to demeanour during apps though scrolling as much. It lengthened a shade by minimizing a frame, or bezel, surrounding a display; left is a plane frame with a home symbol during a bottom. Instead, Samsung is embedding a practical home symbol in a arrangement and relocating a fingerprint sensor to a back.

VOICE ASSISTANT

Samsung claims a new voice assistant, Bixby, will do most some-more than rivals from Apple, Google, Microsoft and Amazon. For one thing, Samsung says Bixby will be means to hoop any smartphone charge now managed by touch. When observation a photo, usually contend “send this to Bob” to lift adult messaging options and hit information for a Bobs we know. Bixby will also offer information on books, booze and other products scanned with a phone’s camera.

But there’s a vital caveat: Bixby will work usually with comparison Samsung apps, including a print gallery and messages, along with Google Play Music. Other apps will be means to adopt Bixby, though Samsung has had a churned lane record in removing other companies to support a home-brewed function.

“I consider a code will onslaught to contest in a longer tenure with a broader digital ecosystems from Google, Amazon or Apple,” Forrester researcher Thomas Husson said.

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Gadget review: Samsung Galaxy S8What is it? Samsung's latest phone, the Galaxy S8, is the first to emerge since last year's embarrassing drama over the Note 7, which was recalled completely after the batteries of several […]